


Take My Hand (at the end)

by ClaireBonnefoy



Category: Night at the Museum (Movies)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fluff, Getting Together, Happy Ending, Jealousy, Light Angst, M/M, Near Death Experiences, Night at the Museum 3: Secret of the Tomb Spoilers, Pining, Unrequited Love, it's requited at the end tho, just the canon one tho, maybe? - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-18 14:15:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29119575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClaireBonnefoy/pseuds/ClaireBonnefoy
Summary: Jedediah noticed Octavius’s feelings towards him but didn’t do anything about it to keep their friendship intact. A near-death experience, however, makes a lad rethink his feelings, and he realized that he, in fact, loved Octavius back.
Relationships: Jedediah/Octavius (Night at the Museum)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 68





	Take My Hand (at the end)

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn't stop thinking about what could happen to them after the movie, so... (They would've started dating if there ever was a NATM 4 and nobody can convince me otherwise!) A special thanks for my beta Meganecchi. ❤️ Enjoy!

Jedediah noticed Octavius’s feelings towards him. At first, he thought they were only those of friendship; they were quite new on this roman and wide west partnership thing, and things seemed to be rather different on Octavius culture. So Jedediah read all the attempts of touching, the longing glances, the easy smile, and the reddening of cheeks as roman friendship things.

However, after spending more time with him (what Octavius insisted, and Jedediah was more than happy to comply), he noticed Octavius was only like that with him.

It was a little sad, finding out about Octavius’s feelings, because Jedediah would never return them – he was a heterosexual man, after all, who liked ladies just fine -, but Jedediah decided to pretend he knew nothing about them.

He, however, enjoyed their friendship immensely to let the other man’s feelings towards him ruin that. After Gigantor helped them mend ways and become best partners, Jedediah’s days – or, nights – had been even more remarkable.

So, he still went to carriage rides around the museum with him, watched cat videos (and other things too, but Octavius seemed to like those better, and Jedediah didn’t really mind), chatted, or just hung out, as two lads did. Most of the time, Jedediah even forgot about those feelings, having too much fun to worry about them. But, as the day started to come closer and they went back to their exhibit, bidding their goodbyes, and Octavius had that dreamy look on his eyes, and Jedediah felt his glance linger a little bit longer at his back before Octavius too went back to his exhibit, he was reminded about them. And, as he was almost "falling asleep" one night, he realized he didn’t mind them at all. It felt good for one’s ego to be admired by another man, and better if that man was someone so strong like Octavius.

One day, as the sun was seconds from rising, his mind wondered how it would be if he returned Octavius’s feelings, too quick for it to be considered an actual thought, more a fleeting feeling than anything, so insignificant that Jedediah didn’t remember it actually existed when the other night fell, and they went back to their routine. (It kept nagging the back of his mind, without him noticing).

He supposed - and kind of hoped - that they would be like that forever; two partners exploring the museum and enjoying their time together – between their work hours when they had to entertain and teach the other Gigantors about their culture.

Until Ahk’s table started to rot.

It was almost surreal; they never thought something as powerful as that tablet could rot like an old carrot. They had the feeling they would live forever, and to know that they had an expiration date – that seemed to be closer than they thought – was a little bit frightening.

But Jedediah wasn’t scared. Ahk and Gigantor found out about a solution – or, someone who could  _ come _ with a solution – and he was pretty positive they would succeed on their journey to restore the tablet.

They went to London, which was exciting since it was a new whole museum to explore, to find Ahk’s parents. Gigantor wasn’t expecting them to come – as they would miss on a trip like that.

They started to look around, trying to find the Egyptian exhibit, when they bumped into a dinosaur, who wasn’t nearly as big as Rex but was actually dangerous (and no fun at all - though, thinking back at it, it was kind of fun to watch Gigantor trying to play with the thing and failing spectacularly).

In the middle of running away, they fell from Attila’s hat into an enormous sucking and hot hole on the floor – that Gigantor called “heating ducts” – until they reached a dirty and dusty wall, and Jedediah knew it was their end.

“Hold my hand!” Octavius exclaimed.

“Why?” Asked Jedediah, even if he had an idea of why.

“Nevermind” Octavius answered, sounding disappointed, and, for a second, Jedediah felt strangely bad that he didn’t accept the hand.

A second later, the strange wind stopped and they fell to the floor.

“Did you ask me to hold your hand?” He asked. He didn’t know exactly why he was prying so much, but he felt a sudden urge to hear the reason – his feelings – from his mouth.

“No” Octavius answered firm, almost solemn, starting to walk away, but Jedediah didn’t buy it. He didn’t insist, though, and followed Octavius.

They walked uncharacteristically quiet until they reached another of those holes they felt on before. They debated whether or not to jump when they heard the noise of something coming their way. They shared a look before jumping together, falling on a city that looked like Octavius’s (Jedediah liked Octavius’s better, though). Octavius started to talk about it, but another thing was concerning Jedediah: the city was too empty for his liking – something didn’t smell good.

They walked around, Octavius trying to recognize it, until they reached the end of the exhibit, where they found a plate with the name written on it – Iiepwop. Octavius didn’t recognize the name though.

A bust in front of them started to mouth something they couldn’t hear, and Octavius noticed the people they presumed were from Iiepwop running away. Strange folks.

“Is it something we said?” Jedediah asked, making monster noises, and Octavius laughed and joined him in making the sounds. Jedediah couldn’t help but smile.

They were calling the other folks to come back when the bust got more desperate, motioning with his head to the right. They looked there and they saw it. The reason those folks were running away. The erupting Vulcan.

“Ah, Pompeii,” Octavius said, finally recognizing the city they were in (Jedediah thought that he could have recognized it a  _ little _ bit earlier), and they started to run away.

They reached the end of the exhibit too soon, with nowhere else to go; Jedediah thought that that was it, there was no way they could escape. They would melt on the fire and would become two puddles of wax by the time the sun started to rise. He only hoped the others could manage to fix the table.

He looked at Octavius by his side, staring terrified at the fire. Jedediah put a hand in front of him, gently making him back down, gluing himself on the wall beside him. The fire approached them slowly, almost teasing them about their imminent deaths.

Then, like a miracle, Dex appeared.

True, he kind of peed on them – what was  _ completely unnecessary _ , and they would  _ never  _ talk about it – but he put away the fire, so he reasoned it was good enough.

Dex was leading them back to the group when they bumped into a man carrying the tablet, and Jedediah was pretty dang sure he wasn't on their team. They tried to stop him, but the bastard only laughed at their faces and kept running away. Jedediah, of course, called threats after him, Octavius right after him.

"You will rue the day you mocked us with your huge sword and your hypnotic blue eyes!"

Jedediah looked at him incredulously. _Hypnotic blue eyes?!_

Octavius noticed the look on him and blushed.

"His eyes were very blue"

They weren't _very blue_. Jedediah's were _very blue_. That lad's were _pale_ blue, the most.

"He's stealing the tablet! It's not time to be noticing his _pale_ dang eyes!" Jedediah exclaimed outraged.

"How could I not notice?!"

_How could he...?!_

Gigantor appeared a little after running after him. At least _someone_ was doing something to stop the guy and not looking at his dang ugly eyes.

"If I didn't know better, I would say you were jealous," Octavius said.

"I'm not jealous!" Jedediah complained indignantly. "My eyes are bluer anyway" he mumbled.

Octavius gave him an amused look and didn't answer. What the jink did that mean?! Wasn't he supposed to agree with Jedediah, having a crush on him and everything?!

"We shall go search for the others," Octavius said, and Dex started to walk again, leading them to the rest of the group. They explained that the guy who had the tablet was named Lancelot (Octavius thought it was a pretty name, which was _not_ ) and that they had to put the table in the moonlight before the sunrise. Gigantor and Teddy joined them, giving Octavius's cape back and announcing he ran away. They agreed to spread apart to search. Turns out Gigantor was taken by the night guard, and they had to lock her before Gigantor managed to escape. He assigned Laa to not let her escape, and Sacajawea led them to where he went. Until they reached the lions.

The giant cats were preparing to attack them, roaring and slowly walking to them, when Jedediah realized; giant _cats_.

"Gigantor, get your flashlight out! These cats want to play!" He brilliantly said.

As if hypnotized, the lions started to follow the light, trying to catch it. Who would tell watching cat videos could come so handy!

Octavius looked proudly at him, giving him a side smile, and Jedediah felt even more full of himself. He doubted that Lancelot guy would think about something like that.

The lions started to play with each other, and they walked around them. They got in the giant public car - a _bus,_ Jedediah thought it was called -, where a couple of kids were staring in awe at them, getting out on a theater. They followed the ugly thief to the terrace, finding him with a melted nose that – which was disturbing to look at and made him even more hideous – and he started having a life crisis or something and complain about people looking at it – Jedediah  _ really _ didn’t want to look, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away!

“It’s quite horrible, isn’t it?” Jedediah whispered to Octavius.

“Yes, it is” Octavius whispered back, he too seemed not able to avoid his look. Jedediah felt kind of victorious that Octavius thought the guy was ugly like that.

“Ugh, it’s disgusting” Jedediah finally looked up, away from that nose. He felt shivers just thinking about the same thing happening to him.

“Yet he’s still handsome,” Octavius said, a dreamy tone in his voice.

At that, Jedediah looked to Octavius, abashed.  _ Handsome _ ?! How could anyone look at someone with a nose like  _ that  _ and think they were  _ handsome _ ?!

Besides, even with his normal nose, he was  _ acceptable _ maximum. Sure, he had blue eyes that Octavius claimed were _very_ blue and blonde hair (which Jedediah  _ also _ had, by the way, and they looked by far more beautiful on him than on this Lancelot folk!), but he was just a common man in shiny armor. He had nothing special, wasn’t dazzling in any way.  _ Octavius shouldn’t be looking at him like he was the most beautiful exhibit at the museum, damn it! _

Didn’t Octavius like  _ Jedediah _ , by the way?! Would he give up on him that easily?!

Jedediah didn’t have the chance to confront Octavius on his  _ bad _ taste on man – apart from him, of course – because Attila paralyzed more and fell, making them fall from his hat.

“We ran out of time” he heard Ahk say to Gigantor breathless.

Jedediah felt his heart paralyze in his chest.  _ They had run out of time. _

It was weird, this new feeling. Jedediah was used to fearing for his life (he almost died  _ twice _ only that night!), but, when he was in these situations, there was metaphorical adrenalin running through his body, his brain working quickly to find a way out of the situation.

This time, however, there was no way out. There was only emptiness, as his members started to feel numb. There was nowhere to run, nothing he could do.

He was taken from his dreading thoughts when the son of Gigantor called his father, only for they all to hear as Dex died.

It was only a matter of time,  _ seconds _ , he would dare to say,  _ minutes _ , he would dare to hope. It was inevitable.

Yet, he felt weirdly calm, only a mundane thing nagging his mind: he wished he had accepted Octavius’s hand back at the heating duct.

“I’ll take that hand now,” he said, quietly. He didn’t feel  _ happy _ , exactly, when Octavius was quick to intertwine their fingers. It just felt  _ right _ , dying with Octavius by his side, his hand secure on his. If he was going to die, he wouldn’t ask for anything else than having his partner by his side.

The words “I love you” formed on his mouth, but they died on his lips as his life left his body. 

Until it hadn’t.

He felt his strength returning to him, all his feelings, sensations. His life. Gigantor did it!

“We’re back, baby!” he cheered, full of joy, with a new goal on his heart. If it took almost dying to realize he loved Octavius, he would make his second chance worth it.

“It feels good, doesn’t it, Jedediah?” Octavius asked, that beautiful, dazzling smile directed towards him. And Jedediah couldn’t stop his own lips from mirroring his, nor his arms from pulling a surprised Octavius into a hug.

“Oh, you said it” he whispered, tears forming in the corner of his eyes, and he felt Octavius’ arms involve him. “It feels good indeed”

After that, they returned to the British Museum. While Gigantor and Ahk returned the tablet to Ahk’s parents, the others had a little chat and decided on something. It wasn’t ideal, but even Jedediah agreed it was just cruel to make Ahk return to New York after being reunited with his family. Gigantor wasn’t pleased but agreed.

They somehow made it back to New York before the sun rose. It was too quiet there, and it made his heart squeeze to think they would be part of that quietness in a few hours. He and Octavius gave their goodbyes to Gigantor – it was quite a touching moment, and Jedediah even offered him a hug – and sat on the bench before their exhibits, looking at nothing and appreciating each other's company.

Jedediah wanted to tell Octavius his new discovery, but couldn’t bring himself to disturb the peaceful quietness that came over them.

Then it was time to go back to their exhibits. They got off the bench and stopped where their exhibits were divided, looking at each other.

“It was an honor to be your partner,” Octavius said solemnly, but Jedediah heard the warmth behind it.

“It was great, pal,” Jedediah answered, smiling, and Octavius smiled back at him. Octavius turned to go back, and he would do the same, but he knew he would never forgive himself if he didn’t tell Octavius how he felt.

“Octavius, wait!” he called, running after him.

Octavius turned, a surprised but curious look on his face, and Jedediah knew it was the right thing to do.

“Yes, Jedediah?” he asked when Jedediah reached him, a hopeful look in his eyes.

“I love you” the words fell easy from his mouth, sweet and true.

Octavius widened his eyes, his mouth hanging open, and Jedediah wanted to kiss him right then and there.

“You- Are you serious?” Octavius asked, skeptical. Jedediah nodded, offering him a sheepish smile.

Octavius blushed, and it was a perfect last memory of him, Jedediah thought.

“I- I love you too” Octavius confessed.

“I know”

Octavius looked taken aback.

“You did?”

Jedediah nodded.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Didn’t want to ruin our friendship. ‘took me a while to realize I love you back, but being satisfied that was you by my side when I was dying made it clear for me”

“Oh,” Octavius said, blushing even more.

“So, can I- can I kiss you?” Jedediah asked, also feeling his face heat.

The dazzling smile Octavius opened made it worth it.

“Please” he sighed and was in Jedediah’s arms before he could think.

Kissing Octavius wasn’t like kissing any woman. It was rougher, but Jedediah found he liked it. He was pressed tight on him, and the little sighs he let out made Jedediah’s heart – and other body parts – flutter with fondness (and arousal).

Octavius broke the kiss and smiled at him.

“Goodbye, Jedediah”

Jedediah smiled back.

“Goodbye, partner”

°°°

It was a strange feeling, coming back to life after a long time of “sleeping”. He felt like he didn’t have control of his body parts, but soon got used to them again. He saw his partners greeting each other and hugging, and even greeted some of them, but he had someone in mind. Someone he  _ had _ to see as soon as possible.

Jedediah climbed off his exhibit, and there he was. Smiling at him, as Jedediah remembered.

He didn’t know who started to run first, only that they met in the middle, twin grins and matching watery eyes on their faces.

“I missed you,” Jedediah said before their mouths clashed.

They couldn’t kiss properly, with the laughter and sobs from happiness on their lips, but it was fine like that; They were together again, and everything was perfect.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!! I hope you like it! If you would like, please leave a comment and kudos! I would love to hear your thoughts about my work! Until the next time! 😊


End file.
